Bolin & Kai - High School AU
by Joshipgirl
Summary: When Kai begins to have confused feelings for Bolin, their friendship is put to the test.
1. Chapter 1

"Bolin! Kai! If I have to tell you one more time to be quiet then I'm going to send Kai back home early, OK?" This wasn't the first time that Yin had yelled this at them but the tone of her voice had changed this time, sounding slightly more strained and high pitched. They knew it probably wasn't worth it to push her patience any further that day so Bolin and Kai turned down the volume on the TV a little bit and continued playing Call of Duty, making sure not to raise their voices too loudly while doing so. They sat on the couch in Bolin's room. Kai was leaning forward, elbows on his knees and his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth a look of pure concentration on his face. Bolin was in a more relaxed position, sitting on the arm of the couch, one foot on the ground and the other on the couch cushion. He was further away from the TV than Kai, and it showed in his eyes, which were slightly squinted so he could see better. Every now and then while they were playing Bolin would throw his hands in the air in victory while Kai put his hands to his head in frustration - Bolin was much better at the game than Kai and refused to let him win even once.

An hour and a half later Kai looked at the time and realised that he should probably head home for dinner. "Alright buddy, I'm gonna head off now. See you tomorrow, yeah?" Said Kai, as he started gathering his things back into his backpack.

"Yeah, see you at school. We've got History first right?" Kai rolled his eyes, he wondered how Bolin ever made it to any of his classes since he could never remember when, or where they were. "No, Bo, we've got P.E. first, like we have had it every Monday for the last five months." They gave each other a quick bro hug but when Kai wrapped his arm around Bolin's back it felt different, he realised that his hand didn't reach quite as far around Bolin as it usually did. "Wow Bo, going to the gym's paying off! You're definitely getting bigger!" Bolin's face flushed slightly red. He walked Kai to the door and then waved goodbye before returning to his room. He stepped in front of the mirror and flexed his arm muscles, smiling to himself.

The next day Bolin and Kai met each other outside the high school gym changing rooms and then went in together. They immediately begun arguing over who was a better tennis player, since that's what they were going to be playing that day.

"Bolin, Tennis is all about speed and quick reactions, the only time you ever have quick reactions is when there's only one chicken wing left." Bolin punched him in the arm, laughing. Bolin turned around and pulled his shirt over his head to change into his P.E. shirt and Kai's eyes lingered on Bolin's back muscle slightly longer than they probably should have. A weird feeling, a feeling Kai had never really felt before, started to burn in his gut.

"You okay, Kai? You've got a weird look on your face." Kai realised that he was still in a half daze and staring at Bolin. He quickly snapped out of it, assured Bolin he was fine and continued to get changed, shaking his head to snap out of whatever had just gone on.

This was their class's first lesson on tennis, they'd just finished up on basketball the week before. The school's P.E. teacher, Mr. Tenzin, decided that for their first day he would allow them to pick a partner and simply let them play against each other for the lesson so that he could gauge each of their individual skills in the sport. Kai and Bolin were ecstatic since Mr. Tenzin didn't usually let them play together because they usually caused him some kind of trouble. Once they started playing, Kai was surprised by how good Bolin actually was. What he lacked in agility he more than made up for in the strength of his swings at the tennis ball, he had Kai racing all around the court attempting to get behind the ball in time to rally it back over the net from Boiln's powerful hits. In the end Kai won the game with a clever hit that was too far forward for Bolin to get to in time. They shook hands afterwards while also wiping sweat off of their foreheads with their forearms, it had been an intense match. Kai walked behind Bolin on their way back to the changing rooms, and he got the weird feeling in his gut again when he noticed the way that Bolin's sweat drenched shirt clinged to his body.

Kai and Bolin were in the changing rooms again. This time when Bolin had taken his shirt and shorts off and was standing there in his underwear Kai just couldn't control himself any longer. He nervously placed his shaking hand on Bolin's hip. Regret immediately filled his entire body, why did he ever think this was okay? Bo was going to hate Kai for having these feelings towards him. Bolin, however, did the one thing Kai least expected him to do. He turned around and grabbed Kai's hands, pulling them around his body and placing them just above his ass on the small of his back. Before Kai even really knew what was happening Bolin was leaning in to kiss him and Kai began to lean in too

Kai sat bolt upright in his bed and blinked several times, taking a few seconds to realise that it had all been a dream. He was back in his room, heart racing and with a slight sweat building at the top of his forehead. He placed his right hand over his frantically beating heart and his mind started to move at an extraordinary pace. Why am I thinking about Bo like this? We've been best buds for years, I don't understand it. I'm not even gay! ... Am I? Kai flipped his body around in his bed to get comfortable again in preparation to go to sleep and pretend the dream had never happened, however something was in his way. He had a horror filled realisation when he suddenly became aware of the fact that he had acquired a raging hard on during his dream about his best friend, and then he got the weird feeling in his gut again except this time he knew what it was - a mixture of dread, terror and arousal.


	2. Chapter 2

Kai woke up the next morning and lay in bed for about ten minutes thinking about the previous day and the dream he had had. In the light of a new day the whole thing seemed absolutely ridiculous to him. He'd never had feelings like that towards a guy before in his whole life, why would they suddenly pop up now, and especially about his best friend? Plus, he got boners all the time when he woke up, it didn't mean that it had happened because of Bolin. He laughed, realising how stupid he had been to even consider the fact that he might be gay. His dreams were clearly playing some sort of cruel joke on him. He got up and started getting ready to go back to school, plagued no longer by any of those sorts of thoughts.

Tuesday morning was just another day at school for Kai, nothing of particular interest happened. First period he had maths, which was one of his favourite subjects. He knew that probably made him a bit weird and also possibly a bit nerdy, but numbers just came naturally to him, it all simply came together in his head with barely any effort on his behalf to understand it all. Bolin quite often expressed his annoyance about Kai's maths skills, since he had trouble with even the most basic of calculations. However, Kai's next class was English and this was the subject he struggled with the most. It frustrated him that he was forced to dissect these books and movies that usually he would read or watch once and then move on from with barely a second thought. He was a pretty big reader, but having to think about all the themes and characters in so much depth made the experience significantly less inviting for him. Part of the reason that Bolin and Kai's friendship worked so well though was that they balanced each other out perfectly. Bolin excelled in English where Kai fell behind so between themselves they were always able to help the other out when they were flailing in the shallow waters of their respective downfalls.

When it came time for morning break, Kai walked towards the tree on the closest edge of the school's field that he, Bolin and a few of their other friends all met at every day. He was the first one to arrive since his English class wasn't very far away. Kai sat down at the base of the tree and started eating an apple from his bag as he watched Bolin make his way over. *ITALICS* I love how even from a distance I can still make out his gorgeous green eyes and the way his T-shirt has to stretch slightly to make room for those perfect bulging biceps of his. */ITALICS* Bolin was just about to say hi to Kai when the bit of apple Kai was chewing on got stuck in his throat as he realised what he had just been thinking. *ITALICS* No. Why is this happening? Why am I thinking this crap?! */ITALICS*

"Are you okay, Kai?" Bolin was looking at him, concerned. Kai couldn't handle this. He had to go home.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Kai managed to splutter before throwing his backpack over his shoulder and running to the School's office without looking back at Bolin, too scared of what might happen if he did.

He arrived at the office and got in line to talk to one of the receptionists. He hated all of the ladies in there because they seemed to think that every single student had some kind of hidden agenda or secret that they were hiding. When the people in front of him had all dispersed he stepped up to the counter and explained to the receptionist that he felt sick and needed to go home. She eyed him with suspicion, but he must of looked pale or something because she picked up the phone without any further inquiry and started dialling his mum's number so that she could come pick him up.

He was sitting on a bench outside the school when his mum arrived in her tiny little car. He got up and walked to the car, opened the door and got in.

"Not feeling too well, buddy?" Kai didn't want to talk so he just shook his head, hoping she wouldn't press the subject, which she didn't. When they arrived in the driveway of their house there was so much tumbling through his mind and his heart was racing so fast that Kai ran out of the car as fast as he could, not even bothering to close the door, because now he actually did feel like he was going to throw up. He got to the bathroom as quickly as he could then knelt down in front of the toilet, his forearms resting on the seat. He still felt sick, but he didn't think he was actually going to throw up anymore. Relieved, he pushed himself against the wall and wrapped his arms around his knees. He tried to calm himself down so that he could think properly, but images of Bolin kept flashing through his head. He tried closing his eyes and breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth as well as attempting to erase all thoughts from his mind. However when he noticed how badly his hands were shaking, he lost it. Tears started streaming down his face as he began to realise that he might have to face up to the reality of being gay.

He had been sitting there for a few more minutes, feeling kind of shell-shocked when his mum walked into the room and knocked on the sliding door that kept the toilet separate from the rest of the bathroom.

"Kai? Are you alright?" He didn't trust himself to be able to speak properly so he just grunted in what he hoped sounded like an affirmation to her question. He thought that maybe she had left when the door started to slowly slide open. He looked up and saw how worried his mother's face appeared. "I could hear you crying… Don't try and tell me that you're fine, because you're clearly not. Tell me what's wrong, Kai. Whatever has happened I'm sure you can get through it." Kai had always had a pretty close relationship with his mum but when he tried to start telling her what had been going on the last two days instead of words coming out of his mouth, he uttered a strangled sounding sob and then tears started to run down his face with new conviction. He was barely even aware of his mum sitting down next to him and putting her arm around him. She didn't try to make him say anything again, but simply let his tears take their course.

When he'd calmed down enough to think straight again, he grabbed some toilet paper and blew his nose before shrugging off his mum's arm from his shoulder, standing up and walking to the lounge and sitting on one of the couches. His mum followed, deciding maybe he was ready to talk. "Kai, do you want to tell me what's wrong now?" He thought about it and decided that this was something he wasn't going to be able to get through on his own, so even though talking about this with his own mother was a terrifying thought, he made up his mind that he was going to tell her. When he tried to make the word come out of his mouth though, nothing happened. Instead, he just nodded his head. Again, his mum waited, allowing him the time he needed to say what he wanted to say.

"Mum…" He started to feel light headed and he could feel the blood rushing through his veins ridculously powerfully because his heart was beating so fast. He thought it might explode out of his chest at any moment. He gulped and tried again. "I think…" His hands were shaking again and he did his best to make them stay still. A third time he tried to make his lips form the words he so desperately wanted to say. " Mum, I think I might…" It was as if there was something literally stopping the words from coming out of his mouth. He was about to give up and walk out of the room and lock himself in his room but his mum stopped him.

"Kai, you're my son and I'll always love you, no matter what. You never have to worry about that ever changing. Do you… Do you think that you might be… gay?" Kai froze. His body seemed to start acting in the complete opposite way than it had been just before. His body didn't move, his eyes were stuck wide open, he stopped breathing and he wasn't entirely sure if his heart was even beating at all anymore. It was almost as if his subconscious was trying to convince him that time had stopped, and that if he stayed perfectly still he would never have to answer his mum's question. After a couple of seconds though he noticed that his body was slightly swaying and that movement was enough to snap him out of it. He burst into tears again. His mum wrapped her arms around him and knowing that he couldn't hide it anymore, he forced the word "yes" to escape his mouth.

— Notes —

I hadn't planned on this chapter going this way AT ALL. I was writing and it kind of just happened, the original plan was far less intense for Kai. As a result it's slightly less polished than I had in mind but I hope you liked it anyway.

Also, I'm always looking to improve my writing so if you have any suggestions on how I could do that I would be VERY appreciative.

Thank you to everyone who's read this and left reviews. I love hearing from people even if it's just to say "Hey, this is cool. I like this."

I'll try to get the next chapter done asap, keep in mind though that I'm working full time at the moment so I don't often have the energy to write.

- Joshipgirl


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